IAN BREMMER: Standard Chartered Is Just The First Company To Have Iranian Dealings Revealed By The US

With all of the headline coverage of a possible attack on Iran,
and the potentially disastrous consequences, people are
underestimating the US commitment to sanctions. So says Eurasia
Group President Ian
Bremmer in his
latest piece for the FT.

America does not want to see a war, nor does it want to see Iran
with a nuclear weapon.

As a result, it has been ratcheting up its sanctions, and is
heavily invested in seeing them succeed.

"....it is clear that financial tools, not air strikes, are
the market-moving risk to watch. Many companies and financial
institutions understand this. Standard Chartered will not be the
last company to face heavy fines and new restrictions on its
ability to operate in the US but European, Japanese and some
other companies have seemingly done a better job than Standard
Chartered in taking this risk seriously. Sanctions are a lot less
eye-catching than air strikes or a blockade but it is now clearer
than ever that they are the primary market risk to watch."

Sanctions don't work unless they're enforced. We're seeing that
that enforcement can and will extend to well known corporations
that have dealings with Iran.

The
size of the transactions routed by Standard Chartered makes
clear the incentive to aid Iran. It remains to be seen whether
the punishment will be sufficient to dissuade others.